1. The Field of the Invention
Implementations of the present invention relate to systems and methods for storing and/or delivering voice messages.
2. The Relevant Technology
Current voice mail systems generally require a user to listen to or otherwise manage each received voice message, such as in a chronological fashion. For example, when a user receives a call but is unable to answer, conventional voicemail systems might record a voice message from the caller, store the voice message in a voice mail inbox for the recipient user, and send an alert to the recipient user. Upon receiving the alert, the recipient user might then dial a voice message access number, upon which the voice messaging system might provide the recipient user with one or more options for retrieving the voice message. For example, the voice messaging system might prompt the user to supply one or more security codes to access a specific voice message inbox. After doing so successfully, the recipient user may then be allowed to scroll through the stored messages in the voice message inbox, and listen to the most recently received message, as desired.
Unfortunately, going through the voice messaging system to retrieve voice messages from a single voice message inbox can be inefficient. In particular, conventional voice messaging systems tend to provide little information in a voice message alert other than the mere fact that a voice message has been received. Thus, a user is often alerted that a voice message has been received, but may not be able to determine the identity of the source of the voice message. Adding to this inconvenience is the notion that conventional voice messaging systems often require a user to listen to several headers/options before actually playing back any given message.
For example, after successfully logging into a voice messaging inbox, conventional voice messages might initially present option information such as, “To get messages, press ‘1.’” After selecting “1,” the conventional voice messaging system might then present additional header information, such as “Call Received [Date] at [Time], from [Phone Number—if available] . . . to listen to this message, press ‘1.’” Only after pressing “1” again might the conventional voice messaging system begin to play back the message. These sequences of steps can delay the immediacy by which a user hears a given voice message. Furthermore, if the recipient user is expecting a particular voice mail, and the voice message being played back is not what is expected, the recipient user may need to skip the message being played, and go through the aforementioned steps—potentially several times—until retrieving the expected voice message.